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Drosera brevifolia in some unlikely places

I suspect many yards in the rural southeast are home to Drosera brevifolia. A teacher of mine in 7th grade mentioned that she had some in her yard. Many of my neighbors front yard ditches are filled with little white sundew blooms during sunny spring days. Likewise, my yard has some nice populations of this little sundew. It really reminds me more of pygmy sundews of Australia than any other North American sundew. It is tiny, and seedlings pop up all over the place in the late autumn. The red plants persists through the winter to flower in the early spring. Most of the plants die around May.

Here are some photos of the plant on the less developed ditch on the northwestern side of the property. They grow very well here.

Under a trurkey oak tree I found some bioluminescent jack o lantern mushrooms. I brought one inside and I could see it glow, but the camera could not pick it up.

The sundews also grow in a pine plantation under heavy shade. I found one a few years ago that was about three inches across, but the ones I saw today were only about 1cm.

This one lived on a golf cart trail. It has somehow survived trampling and seems healthy.

Many also live on the side of a pond. The soil here is really just hard clay that was excavated while digging the pond. I don't know how they grow here; it is really dry and not much besides centipede grass is able to grow.

There are also many sundews in the ditch between my neighbors house and mine.

Utricularia subulata is also found in many of these sites, although it is much harder to find when it is not flowering. Together, these two carnivores make the property much more interesting.

That's a cool thread there sir! I am glad to see some CP's truckin right along in spite of development/disturbance. I bet the utric flowers are very nice and put on quite a show. Can we hope for update pics with utric flowers and more Drosera in the future? Thanks for showing us around.

That is so cool! Thanks for sharing. It's interesting to see cps in the wild growing in all kinds of soil and here I am fussing over exact soil mixtures. The mushroom is pretty dang sweet. I never would've guessed it glows.

I suspect many yards in the rural southeast are home to Drosera brevifolia. A teacher of mine in 7th grade mentioned that she had some in her yard. Many of my neighbors front yard ditches are filled with little white sundew blooms during sunny spring days.

Thanks for sharing these pics.

They remind me of road trips through the south in the 80's. I remember seeing Sarracenia growing in front lawns in a number of front yards - sometimes in the middle of a small town. Depending on the state, sundews could be found in most of the ditches (which often also had their own fish populations).